This Is Their Story
by autumn midnights
Summary: In a way, Parvati and Zacharias have the Carrows to thank for their first meeting - not that either one of them would ever see it that way. M&MWP, ParvatiZacharias. Rated T for language.


_Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter, rights to JK Rowling, blah blah blah._

_Author's Note: ZachariasParvati is a Mew and Mor's Weird Pairing, so credit to them. Birthday fic for mew-tsubaki - happy birthday, sis, and I hope you like this! Sorry it's late - hopefully the length makes up for that a bit :P _

* * *

It first starts with a dungeon.

There's a sister and a brother who should never have been practically running a school, and there's a boy and a girl who dared to stand up to them in two separate ways.

In a way, Parvati Patil and Zacharias Smith have the Carrows to thank for their first real meeting - the time that they truly saw one another for the first time. Not that either one of them would ever see it that way.

o0o0o0o

Wayne Hopkins - Zacharias's roommate - has a sister Lillian, who's only eleven years old, and that's where the trouble begins.

Somehow, Lillian ends up in detention. It isn't that much of a surprise; the Carrows hand out detentions for the simplest things, like walking into class two minutes late or forgetting a textbook in the common room. It's only the middle of October, and yet at least a third of the student population has already been sent down to the dungeons for detention with the Carrows. It doesn't help that some students - namely Gryffindors, although not always - purposely antagonize the Carrows and rebel against them.

Zach has no idea whether Lillian made some stupid, Gryffindor-esque move or if she just happened to screw up a little bit. Wayne doesn't know either - or maybe he just forgot, since Wayne's intelligence level is only a little higher than Crabbe and Goyle's; he's just a hell of a lot nicer.

"She's only little," Wayne says, holding a hand up to about his waist. "An' she hasn't come back here yet. People always come back quicker than this." He taps his watch, and Zach looks at his own. It's nearing five-thirty. Wayne's right, as much as Zach hates to admit such a thing. People who have detention are always back at this point; they always want to come back to the common room or dormitory to rest right afterwards. There's no way that a first year would be the exception to the rule.

"That they do," Zach says. "I'm sure she's fine, though." He doesn't believe it himself, and he can hear the unsureness in his voice. He's not exactly the greatest liar in the world.

Wayne stares at him. "I'm scared for her," he says simply. He looks at Zacharias with those eyes - those big damn sad eyes that make him look like an overgrown puppy. Wayne's big - over six feet three, over two hundred pounds - but he looks like a scared little kid right now.

Zach looks away from him, and then he makes that fateful decision that changes everything. "I'll run down to the dungeons and see if she's still there," he says. There can't be any harm in that - there's not any rule stating that you can't check on someone else.

"Thank you," Wayne says sincerely, and Zach waves him off as he leaves the seventh-year boys' dormitory. He can't help but feel a little nervous as he makes his way down to the dungeons; the last time he was down here was for sixth-year DADA with Snape. Zach hasn't gotten a detention yet - a fact he's more than a little proud of - so coming down to the place where detentions occur feels a little bit like signing his own death warrant.

He peers into each room as he passes by. He looks into six dungeons before he finally sees Lillian Hopkins. She's sprawled across the floor; her chest is rising and falling, but her eyes are closed. The little barred window in the door doesn't provide a very good view, but he can see enough to know that there's no way he's going to be able to carry her back to the common room. Hopefully she can walk. He tries to open the door, but it's locked; he draws his wand, thinking he can _Alohomora _it - surely the Carrows weren't intelligent enough to put extra wards up._  
_

"_Aloho-"_

He only gets half of the spell out before Alecto Carrow steps out of the nearest dungeon. "Planning a jailbreak, boy?" she snarls.

Zacharias's wand hand falls limply to his side, and he mentally curses Wayne Hopkins for ever getting him into this mess.

o0o0o0o

Amycus Carrow isn't smart enough to put wards up around his office to stop troublesome students, and that's where the trouble begins.

Apparently Seamus Finnegan discovered the lack of security on the Carrows' offices on one of the nights when the D.A. sneaked out and plastered the school with anti-Carrow propaganda. Parvati isn't completely sure, because Romilda Vane swore at the last meeting that _she _figured it out before Seamus. Either way, the D.A. decided that they would take advantage of that fact, and they appointed Parvati and Su Li, from Ravenclaw, to go and vandalize the office.

Parvati doesn't mind doing things for the D.A. - in fact, there is a certain thrill to rebelling, especially considering the consequences - but at the same time, she knows that some of the other members would have killed for the chance to do this. The D.A. operated on a cycle, however - so that those who hadn't been caught for a while were the ones who went on that current mission. The idea was to save students from constantly getting in trouble. It makes sense, and there are times Parvati agrees with it, but then she sees the way Romilda, Seamus, Morag, and Kevin were glaring at her when her name was called, and she's not so sure.

She shakes those thoughts out of her head and looks around as Su opens the door. Su goes in first, and Parvati stands guard. She can hear Su enjoying herself in there; the sounds of things smashing and breaking and tearing float out from the room. She peeks inside quickly - the room is a beautiful mess - but then returns to watching.

She sees Amycus Carrow coming, and she slams the door shut to warn Su. They discussed this before the actual mission - if a Carrow came by, the guard would let herself get caught and the vandal would go out the window, using a Featherlight Charm to get safely down to the ground. Parvati can hear Su scrambling to open the window.

"You know," Parvati says, "you really need to learn a few wards. This was far too easy."

"You little bitch," Amycus snarls. He grabs Parvati's wrist to stop her from running away and practically kicks the door down, but the window is open and Su is already gone. It'll take him hours to clean up this mess, even with the use of magic. A normal teacher would have made the student or students responsible help clean up, but Amycus Carrow is not a normal student. "Yer comin' down to the dungeon. Maybe that'll teach ya a lesson."

He drags her down, pulling her roughly along, but Parvati can't shake the wonderful memory of Su standing in the middle of the disaster zone that Amycus's office had become.

o0o0o0o

The dungeon that Alecto Carrow shoved Zacharias into is one of the larger ones. There's chains on the walls, but she doesn't bother with those; she's even confident enough to leave the door open. Zacharias's wand is in her pocket. He'd never dare try to escape without it, because he knows he'd never get it back. She holds her own wand up, ready to curse him, and he squeezes his eyes shut, trembling already, scared as hell, but the curse doesn't come.

"Got another one," the rougher voice of Amycus Carrow says, and Zach opens his eyes as Amycus drags one of the seventh-year Gryffindors inside the cell. Parvati Patil. He remembers her from the D.A. in fifth year, and from the classes that they've shared over the years, but the two of them have never really talked. She doesn't look nearly as terrified as he knows he does. She's standing up tall, despite Amycus's grip on her arm, and her eyes burn with a fire Zach hasn't seen in too many people this year. She looks defiant, rebellious, heroic - admirable, in a way.

She's beautiful.

He promptly shakes that thought out of his head, vaguely wondering what some of the other students would say to him if they knew that he checked out a girl while in detention with the Carrows. He has a feeling a couple people would be impressed.

Amycus shoves Parvati against the wall, only a couple of feet from Zacharias. She folds her arms and glares at the Carrows, still looking defiant. Zach is just trying to figure out how to avoid severely injuring himself if he happens to fall over. Did students sit down before getting cursed so that they were already on the ground? He's never thought to ask anyone a question like that. Parvati's not sitting, though, and he decides to stay standing. For some reason, he has an urge to impress her.

Or at least not make her think of him as an idiot.

The Carrows step outside for a moment, closing the door behind them; Zacharias figures they're probably exchanging stories about him and Parvati, explaining why each of them is in there. Parvati looks over at him. "This is your first, isn't it?"

"It's that obvious?" Zach smiles ruefully.

Parvati shrugs. "Yeah. What did you do?"

He explains the whole situation with Lillian Hopkins, and how he wanted to get her out and bring her back to the Hufflepuff common room.

"Damn," Parvati says. "If the Carrows don't let her out by the time we're done, I'll get some of the others and see if they can help."

"The others?"

"You know," Parvati says, "other students who think that the Inbreeding Idiots out there are truly awful people."

Zacharias snorts at Parvati's name for the Carrows. He's heard the rumors about Alecto and Amycus being a little more than siblings - everyone has, although there's absolutely no proof of anything sexual between them. "Don't we all think that?" he says.

"You'd be surprised." Parvati pulls a hair tie out of her pocket and starts fiddling with her hair, which brushes her waist. "Last time I had detention, the Carrows were only supervising. Nott and Goyle Cruciated me, and Padma told me that Malfoy, Crabbe, and Parkinson were helping the Carrows too."

"This your second detention?" Zach asks.

Parvati snorts. "I wish. Fifth. I got it for three days at the beginning of the year when I made the mistake of coming into class late and sassing Amycus Carrow." Zach remembers that now; it wasn't even a week into the school year, and at that point, not too many people really knew what detentions were like. Parvati was one of the first. "And then I was late to class maybe three weeks ago, so that was another one." She shrugs. "It's weird. You can't get used to it, but at the same time you kind of do. Like you know what's coming, and you know that you'll be fine eventually, but while it's actually happening, it's hell."

"You're not really reassuring me," Zach says.

"How can I?"

She has a point - nothing she could say really would make him feel any better. She sits down, back against the wall, and he follows her example. He's trembling again; he can't remember ever feeling this scared before in his life. He doesn't say anything more, and Parvati reaches over and slips her hand into his.

Neither one of them says anything more to one another; the Carrows come back in, and Parvati and Zacharias's next noises are wordless screams.

o0o0o0o

The Carrows leave. Parvati rolls over onto her stomach, pushing herself up to a semi-seated position against the wall as she catches her breath. She quickly checks herself - no bleeding, no injuries, good - before letting out a soft groan. The aftereffects of the Cruciatus still ravage her body, an echo of the original curse's strength. Damn, that _hurts..._

She looks over at Zacharias, who's passed out on the ground. That's not too surprising - most people did, their first time. She reaches over and grabs her wand from where the Carrows unceremoniously chucked it in her direction; Zacharias's is also nearby, and she picks that up too so that he doesn't accidentally roll onto it. She nudges him with her foot. "Smith," she whispers. "Oi. Smith. Get up."

It takes him a few seconds, but finally his eyes open. "Oh, _shit,_" he says. "That hurts like a bitch." He looks over at her. "This is your _fifth_? How are you not, I don't know, fleeing the country right now or something?"

"I'm too stubborn," Parvati responds. She offers him a hand, and he takes it, pulling himself up so that he, too, is leaning against the wall.

"Can Madam Pomfrey slip us something?" Zacharias asks. "I don't know, Pain-killing Potion or something?" He doesn't sound confident, though, and Parvati wordlessly shakes her head. The Carrows decreed at the beginning of the year that Madam Pomfrey couldn't treat detention-related injuries unless they were life-threatening. Parvati balls her right hand into a fist, wishing that she could punch one or both of the Carrows right in the face. Merlin knows they deserve it.

"You think you can walk?" Parvati struggles to her feet. She wishes that she could Apparate within Hogwarts, so she could Apparate right up to the common room and collapse on one of the couches. She's not tired in the sense of wanting to fall asleep, but she wants to lie down and not move.

"I guess." It takes Zacharias longer to get up; he clenches his teeth through the pain, holding himself up against the wall. "Wait - you have to get all the way up to Gryffindor, don't you? How the hell are you gonna manage that?"

Parvati smiles ruefully. The Gryffindors and Ravenclaws have it worse after detention; they have to walk up seven flights of stairs, while Slytherins barely have to walk a few hundred feet, and Hufflepuffs only have to go near the kitchens, which are on the first floor. "I've done it before," she says, neglecting to mention how long it always takes. Nobody can move quickly after a session with the Carrows, and walking up the seven flights of stairs feels like hell.

They leave the dungeon together, and Zacharias quietly asks, "Is it true that the D.A.'s started up again?"

Parvati looks around, half-expecting one of the Carrows to jump out at the two of them. "Yeah," she whispers, equally quiet. "Why?"

He looks like he's struggling with himself, like he hates himself for saying the next words, but he gets them out. "I want in."

o0o0o0o

Zacharias's first meeting with the D.A. isn't that night; it's the next night, which is probably better. He feels back to normal at that point, and he easily makes his way up to the Room of Requirement alongside Ernie at nine o'clock. He can't help but be amazed at how many people there are. The old D.A. had maybe twenty-five members on a good day. This group has at least fifty, maybe more - maybe sixty. The old D.A. was a rebel group of students - this truly is an army.

Nearly all of the seventh years, minus the Slytherins, are there, and students as young as fourth year mill around. Zach can't help but be impressed at the sheer numbers, although the impressiveness of the group dwindles slightly when three people call it to order.

Neville Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Luna Lovegood.

"Are you _kidding _me?" Zach whispers to Ernie. "Longbottom's actually in charge of something? And Loony Lovegood, of all people?" He can understand Ginny being the leader a bit more - she has a _mean _Bat-Bogey Hex that he had the misfortune of experiencing last year - but the other two are the last people that he wants to see in charge.

"I know you wouldn't expect it," Ernie responds, "but they do a good job. Believe me, if they didn't, we'd vote them out."

Zach is tempted to do that on the sole basis of them being Longbottom and Lovegood, but he keeps his mouth shut. He sees Parvati standing with Lavender Brown, another Gryffindor girl. Lavender's pretty enough, he supposes, but she looks bland standing beside Parvati.

He shakes his head free of that thought and concentrates on the meeting.

It's soon obvious to him that this isn't the D.A. of the past. That one - the original one - was a lot easier, a lot simpler. They were just trying to learn DADA because Umbridge was an awful professor. Now...he isn't even sure what the D.A. hopes to accomplish, but he's pretty sure it's a bit more serious than just passing their NEWTs.

They practice well into the night - dueling, defensive spells, offensive spells, everything one could imagine. He's exhausted by the end of it - not only is it past midnight by the time the meeting finally finishes, but the practice itself tires him out. He switches partners several times throughout the night - everyone does, to work with people who have different styles - but he doesn't end up with Parvati, and he's a little disappointed at that.

He catches up to her after the meeting, but when he finally comes face-to-face with her, he's not sure what to say. Thankfully, she speaks first. "What did you think?" She gestures around the Room of Requirement. It's impossibly big, to accommodate the amount of people, and filled with every resource Zach can imagine - mountains of books, cushions, practice dummies, and some things that he's not even sure about. It looks far better than it did two years ago.

"It was..." Zach hesitates, not totally sure how to describe the meeting. "Tiring. But a good sort of tiring."

"Good," Parvati says. "Means you actually worked." She grins. "Don't worry. It gets a little less tiring once you've been to a few meetings." She glances in the mirror and pulls the hair tie out, letting her long dark hair fall loose around her. "You recovered from yesterday's detention?"

"Yeah," Zach answers. He twists his hands together, forcing the words out. He's not used to being this nice to someone. "Thanks, by the way. For...being there." He's pretty sure his face is a violent shade of fuchsia at this point.

Parvati smiles. "Anytime."

o0o0o0o

Zacharias is decent at throwing spells when he's practicing on one of the dummies, but he's a truly awful dueler.

She first notices it a week after he joins the new D.A. She's on break - the meetings are long enough where, at any given time, a couple people are resting - with Morag and Romilda, but the two of them are too busy trying to ignore their obvious sexual tension to talk to her. She's stuck watching the duels as she sips her water, and her eyes fall on Zacharias, who's up against Demelza Robins.

That doesn't help matters. Demelza is like a little bird flying around whoever her opponent happens to be - never strong enough to do any real damage, but light and fast enough to avoid whatever they throw at her. Zacharias looks big and clumsy compared to her. In reality, he _is _big and clumsy compared to her, and in five minutes, he's down on his knees, hit with five different minor hexes. She helps him up, cleans him up, and lets him sit down - by Parvati.

"You saw that?" He massages his forehead. Parvati nods, and he groans. "I just got beat up by a fifteen-year-old. That's embarrassing."

"It's happened to all of us." Parvati glances over at the duels going on. "Look, I'm sure someone can help you practice. You think I knew how to duel when I first started coming here? I'd never been in a duel in my life!"

"You'd help me?" Zacharias asks.

Parvati doesn't remember expressly volunteering to help Zacharias, but she shrugs. He's a D.A. member now, and the D.A. helps each other out. "Sure," she says. "After classes, I guess. We'll come up here, see if the Room's empty - it's the best place."

She sees him smile.

o0o0o0o

Zach sneaks glances at Parvati when he thinks she isn't looking.

She's beautiful. What started out as a vague thought in a darkened room a month ago has developed into him actually fancying her, and now he can't get enough of spending time with her. He spends almost all of their dueling practice distracted by her; he knows he's not improving as much as he should be, but he can't bring himself to care very much. It's not like he'll ever actually have to use this knowledge.

He can't even begin to explain what really made him join the D.A. - whether it was annoyance at the Carrows, a desire to rebel, Parvati, or simply because he was in the original D.A. It's probably a combination of all of them. But unlike many of the other students there, he's not preparing to fight Death Eaters. He's not training to be a rebel. When he leaves Hogwarts, he's not going to stir up trouble like some of them. His rebellion is limited simply to Hogwarts - and so he's not as focused as some of the others.

This lack of focus allows him to think about something far more interesting: Parvati.

She stands with her hands on her hips this time, glaring at him. "Did you even hear a word I just said?" she asks. Her voice resonates a little in the Room; this time, the Room of Requirement is mostly empty. Parvati scattered cushions across the floor in the beginning, for safety purposes, but they haven't been needed yet.

"Er, yeah..." Zach lies.

She crosses the few feet that separate them. "I know you aren't serious about this, Smith," she says, poking him in the chest. "I know exactly why you wanted to practice dueling with me - I'm not stupid. The way you look at me...Merlin, you are the least subtle person on the planet." She shakes her head. "If you fancied me, you should have just said so."

Zach stares at her, and it takes him a full minute to figure out how to respond. "I'm not a Gryffindor," he says finally. "I couldn't just walk up to you and say that."

Parvati raises her eyebrows. "So," she says, "now that I know...what happens now?"

Zach takes a deep breath. "You wanna go to Hogsmeade sometime?"

Parvati shrugs. "Sure."

o0o0o0o

If she's honest with herself, Parvati's just a little bit desperate.

She'll never admit it to anyone - she has a hard enough time admitting it to herself - but it's completely true. She's scared out of her mind that one day the Carrows are going to snap and start killing students. She's terrified of what will happen when Harry Potter comes back - because that'll happen eventually, she knows. She has no idea what's going to happen to her after Hogwarts.

She wants someone by her side, just in case.

Parvati hates to think of herself as the sort of girl who _needs _a man. She's never really been like that. Oh, sure, she's enjoyed squealing over the hot blokes with Lavender, rating people who pass by in the hallways, and flipping through the pages of _Witch Weekly_, looking up all the boyfriend-related articles. But that was just a hobby, something fun to do with her best friend.

Now, she's seventeen and she's scared for her life, and hey, what's wrong with wanting a little distraction?

Zacharias is there - he's willing, he's available, and he's into her. She's not too impressed at first; she still has a few memories of fifth-year Zacharias, of him being a pretentious prick at the first D.A. meetings. But slowly, as she spends more time with him, she starts to get to know him - and she realizes maybe he's not so bad. Maybe this could actually work - maybe he could be more than just a little distraction.

The story of Parvati and Zacharias is not a story of love at first sight, of forbidden passion and unbearable sexual tension. The story of Parvati and Zacharias starts as a story of a boy who wanted a beautiful girl, and a beautiful girl who wanted a distraction from the horrors surrounding her.

It turns into just a little more than that.

o0o0o0o

"Would you leave the country?" Zach asks one January day. It's been a few months since they first started dating. They're in Madam Puddifoot's, simply because the Three Broomsticks is too crowded and the Hog's Head is too dirty. Parvati absentmindedly fidgets with a paper heart on the table, but she looks up when he speaks. "After Hogwarts, I mean."

Parvati shakes her head. "I need to stay. I need to do something - I need to fight against..." She lets the sentence trail off because they're in public, but Zach knows exactly what she's talking about.

"You're not scared?"

"I'm terrified," Parvati says. "I don't want to end up dead. But being a coward is even worse."

_Typical Gryffindor_, thinks Zach. Every last one of them has serious issues with the idea of self-preservation, it seems. They all like to jump into things headfirst, not caring about the consequences. Zach gets annoyed with most of them and their constant talks of rebellion, but it's different with Parvati. To him, her courage is heroic. He supposes he's more than a bit biased.

"You're fleeing, aren't you?" Parvati asks, not meeting his eyes. "After Hogwarts?"

"Maybe," Zach says, although the thoughts going through his mind are more along the lines of '_oh God yes anywhere's better than here'_. He just wishes she'd come with him. He hates the thought of leaving her behind in a war-torn country while he goes off to safety.

o0o0o0o

Parvati ends up in detention the first week of February when she tries to get between Amycus Carrow and Rose Zeller, who got caught stealing Pain-killing Potions from Madam Pomfrey. Rose gets a week; Parvati gets three days. She tells Zacharias so that he knows that she'll be occupied after classes, and she doesn't think anything of it until he shows up in the dungeon after Carrow leaves, and he helps her up to Gryffindor Tower.

He does that all three days, and she can't help but think she's starting to fall in love. She's not a damsel in distress, but Zach helping her is chivalrous and romantic. She softens when she looks at him and she feels butterflies in her stomach.

Parvati can't help but muse on the strangeness of this year at Hogwarts. She hates the Carrows, and she hates the atmosphere of darkness suffocating Hogwarts, but a small part of her brain can't help but think that she and Zacharias would never have gotten together if it weren't for detentions and the D.A. Maybe it's true that happiness can be found even in the midst of sorrow; maybe it's true that there's always going to be a little bit of light in the dark.

They don't do much on Valentine's Day; it's too cold to go to Hogsmeade, and there's really nothing to do in the castle, but they spend it together. Maybe some girls would have been disappointed that there were no grand romantic gestures, but Parvati doesn't care. This isn't the right atmosphere for overwhelming passion, anyway; it would feel too forced. She enjoys herself with Zacharias, and at the end of the night, as she walks him to the Hufflepuff common room, she slips her hand into his and whispers, "I love you."

He turns her to face him and kisses her, and answers, "I love you, too."

o0o0o0o

After Easter, when Ginny doesn't come back to Hogwarts, the D.A. members start trickling into the Room of Requirement and not coming out.

The Carrows come down harder on students, which confuses the hell out of Zach. Being harsher makes more students want to leave; he really doesn't understand their logic. Zach counts down the days, telling himself that he only has to get through the rest of this year and then he's gone. He hasn't gotten detention again since that very first time with Parvati. He's doing quite well for himself, and he thinks he'll be fine.

Then, Amycus Carrow drags a first year girl into Dark Arts, makes all the remaining seventh years line up, and tells them to Cruciate her.

Parvati gets out of the line and stands, a couple feet from Amycus, and spits in his face. "You sick, sadistic bastard!" she half-screams. "You can't honestly expect any of us to torture her when she's completely innocent. If you asked us to Cruciate you, then I'd be first in line. But not a freaking eleven-year-old that you pulled out of class." She whirls around and heads for the door. Amycus shoots a couple of curses at her, but she's faster, and she ducks out of the way. "You can go straight to hell!" she yells before slamming the door.

Zach makes a split-second decision; he follows her.

She's running, and it takes him a while to catch up with her, but finally she slows down and turns to face him. "You're going up to the Room, aren't you?" he asks her.

She nods. "Pretty sure they'd kill me for what I just did," she says. "That's why I did it - I was planning to head up to the Room anyway. I just wanted to go out with a bang." She glances back in the direction they had come, as if she wants to see if Amycus is going to arrive. "I'm still going to fight," she says. "I'm just going to fight from there." She looks down the corridor again. "You coming?"

It's tempting. Oh, it's so tempting to just follow Parvati anywhere. But he knows that if he leaves, than he's condemning himself - that he'll be on the Death Eaters' list of insurgents, that he'll never be able to live the rest of his life in peace. If he survives the rest of the year normally and leaves Hogwarts like a regular student, he'll be able to walk right into the Ministry and fill out the paperwork to take a Portkey to America. "No," he says. "I can't."

"You know you're going to get detention for leaving." It's a statement, not a question. She's completely right, but Zach hopes he can bullshit his way out of it by saying that he was trying to get Parvati to come back to class.

"Yeah." He sighs; that's not going to be fun, and he won't have Parvati by his side this time to help him. "I love you," he says, and she kisses him right there, in the middle of the corridor, holding him like she never wants to let go. He threads his hand through her hair and wishes she didn't have to let go. If only they could stay right there forever.

"I love you too," she says. "If this is ever over - if we ever win - I'm going to find you," she says. "And we're going to pick up where we left off."

They go their separate ways - Parvati to the Room of Requirement, Zach back to Amycus Carrow's classroom - but they hold the hope of a pleasant future together in their minds.


End file.
